A digital offshore support vessel chartering start-up is among ten companies selected by Equinor to participate in the Techstars Energy Accelerator.
VesselAdmin, which was started by ex-Clarkson Platou broker Geir Gotteberg, beat off competition from hundreds of applicants to win a place on the intensive 13-week programme.
The Oslo-based company, which was only started in 2017, aims to accelerate their solution by tapping into a global network of experts from Equinor and Techstars as well as the partnering companies Kongsberg and Capgemini.
VesselAdmin is the only maritime related company in this year’s program with participants from Norway as well as Brazil, Canada, Germany and the UK.
The event is hosted at Equinor’s Oslo offices and the 10 start-up companies are due to begin the accelerator on 9 September 2019.
Eight out of the 10 firms from the Techstars Energy class of 2018 signed deals with corporate partners
Equinor
Participants receive up to $120,000 in funding, while eight out of the 10 companies from the Techstars Energy class of 2018 signed deals with corporate partners, according to Equinor.
Last year’s participants included US-based maritime workflow management start-up Voyager, which recently raised $1.5m in new seed funding.
“The energy industry is changing fast, and these companies are at the forefront of that change,” said Al Cook, Equinor’s executive vice president for global strategy and business development.
“Following the success of our first accelerator programme last year, we are excited to have a new class of innovative startups working with us for the next three months.”
Audun Abelsnes, managing director Techstars Energy added: “Norway has a world-class energy-technology industry and is recognized as a true global energy hub.
“It is the ideal place to engage with subject matter experts if you are working on disruptive solutions within energy.”
At the end of the programme in December, they will present their solutions to Equinor, the partners and other potential investors at a Demo Day.
Other members of the VesselAdmin team include former Seabrokers Chartering broker Chris Moncrieff and analyst Eirik Hjelle.
VesselAdmin recently signed a cooperation agreement with leading Norwegian bank DNB to measure emissions from ships and develop a “green scoring” system that it hopes will encourage these industries to become more sustainable.
“We are really excited to work with the team at DNB to crack one of the major challenges within shipping and offshore,” the company said.
